


i see my name in shining lights;

by stylinshaw



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, SoundCloud Rapper Mark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 07:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17442938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stylinshaw/pseuds/stylinshaw
Summary: Donghyuck fights with (and crushes on) rule-abiding student council president Minhyung Lee, while simultaneously becoming obsessed with golden-voiced SoundCloud rapper Lee Mark.





	i see my name in shining lights;

**Author's Note:**

> I've finally posted a markhyuck fic! Truly the superior pairing. 
> 
> title: billionaire - travie mccoy ft. bruno mars 
> 
> disclaimer: I do not own any of NCT!

It’s a regular Tuesday afternoon for Donghyuck. He’s come home from school. He’s changed out of his uniform. And now, he’s blasting Michael Jackson at the highest volume he can without getting himself a noise complaint.

He’s attempting to moonwalk across the floor when his bedroom door is thrown open. His older brother stands at the door, arms crossed and disapproval painting his features.

“Hyuck, don’t get me wrong here,” Jaehyun says, as he walks in and presses the mute button on Donghyuck’s speaker. “I love Michael Jackson- _sunbaenim_ as much as the next person, but there’s only so many times I can listen to _Smooth Criminal_ without wanting to throw your speakers out of the window.” The words are said calmly, but Donghyuck knows that this is a real threat.

“But...Jaehyunie-hyung,” Donghyuck pouts. “It’s not my fault that all music, with the exception of Michael Jackson- _sunbaenim'_ s, is trash.”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes. “Maybe you just aren’t looking for music in the right places,” he responds. His quirks an eyebrow. “Hey, maybe you should check out SoundCloud.”

“SoundCloud,” Donghyuck repeats dubiously. “It sounds like the name of a third-grader’s iPod.”

“It’s a website where anyone can share their own music. Covers, original songs, raps. You might be able to find something if you can get past the slew of wannabe highschool rappers who have accounts on there,” Jaehyun chuckles.

“Uh, okay. Thanks, hyung, I’ll check it out sometime,” Donghyuck replies, even though he doesn’t have any intention of visiting the website at all. Jaehyun shoots him a dimpled smile as he exits, gently closing the door behind him.

Donghyuck waits for the sound of Jaehyun’s footsteps to fade away before he unmutes his speaker, filling his room with Michael Jackson’s glorious vocals once more.

“ _Donghyuck!_ ” Jaehyun bellows, but Donghyuck pretends not to hear as he starts moonwalking again.

 

 _Maybe Jaehyun-hyung was right,_ Donghyuck thinks, later that night. He’s listened to Michael Jackson nonstop for over four hours, and honestly, he’s getting a little tired of it. He hits the pause button on his music before opening a browser tab and typing in ‘soundcloud’ curiously.

The website is relatively easy to make sense of. Donghyuck searches for ‘soft music’ and finds a multitude of playlists, all decorated with pastel cover images. He selects one at random before leaning back against his pillows, closing his eyes and letting the music wash over him.

Except, most of the songs are kind of trash.

Donghyuck ends up skipping over most of the songs on the playlist, deciding after a while to swap playlists. In similar fashion, he goes through playlist after playlist, finding a couple of catchy tunes and adding them to his own personal playlist entitled ‘ _songs that are ok (but aren’t as good as michael jackson songs)_ ’.

It’s well into the middle of the night when Donghyuck finds _LEE_MARK._

He’s lost count of how many new songs he’s listened to, and he’s considering thanking Jaehyun for the website recommendation later on in the day. The beats of the latest song filter in through his earphones, and Donghyuck nods his head along. The song, to put it bluntly, is fucking _good._ As far as he can tell, there are three rappers and one vocal, all with gorgeous voices. But one voice stands out. One of the rappers, who has a distinct style and flow to his words. His voice is smooth like honey, and he delivers his words with raw emotion flawlessly.

He grabs his phone to check the name of the song hastily. ' _YESTODAY’ - TY, DY, MK, LC,_ his screen reads. After adding the song to his own playlist, he scrolls to the description of the song, posted under the account TY_TRACK.

_yestoday. thanks to @LEE_MARK, and doyoung and lucas (who don’t have accounts) for featuring on this song for me. it means a lot. hope you enjoyed. - TY_

If Donghyuck’s lucky, his golden-voiced mystery rapper will be one of these two accounts. He checks _TY_TRACK_ first, playing one of the user’s songs at random before determining that it is most definitely not the rapper he’s looking for.

And that’s how he finds Mark.

Donghyuck searches up @ _LEE_MARK_ and clicks on the first track that shows up, a song titled ‘ _MAD CITY - TY, MK, JH',_  The song is bouncy, starting with smooth vocals- which sound strangely...familiar.

It’s probably nothing, though, so Donghyuck dismisses the thought, and tunes back into the song just as the song’s rap begins. Immediately, he knows- this is the one he’s looking for, and it’s most definitely ‘LEE_MARK’, because he also proudly proclaims that ‘ _Mark is absolutely fully capable’_ halfway through his rap.

And thus begins Donghyuck’s downward spiral into Mark’s music, ending when he finally falls asleep at three in the morning with the soft beats of his songs resonating in his ears.

 

“Hey,” Donghyuck hears from behind him, as he strolls into school with his earphones in, playing his new selection of SoundCloud music on shuffle. Upon turning, he realises it’s Minhyung Lee, the new Canadian transfer student that had only joined at the start of the year, but had still somehow managed to become the president of the student council while maintaining top-tier grades at the same time.

“Yeah?” Donghyuck asks. Minhyung points at his uniform shirt, which had become untucked on his way into the building.

“School rules require your shirt to be tucked in, sorry,” he says, sounding apologetic. Donghyuck shrugs and tucks his shirt into his pants, waiting for Minhyung’s nod of approval before he saunters into school, revelling in Mark’s voice once more.

“Guys,” he announces, once he’s spotted his two closest friends. “I’ve made a new discovery.”

Jeno graciously offers him a monotonous ‘what is it’ in response to his statement.

“It’s this website called SoundCloud. I’ve found a bunch of cool songs on it, and-”

“Great job, Hyuck, you’re only _four years_ late to the SoundCloud hype,” Jaemin cuts him off, with a good-natured eyeroll. Donghyuck rolls his eyes back with equal fervour.

“I don’t care when it became popular. All that matters it that I’ve found the musical love of my life on here,” he says, holding out his phone to show his friends Mark’s profile.

“Lee...Mark…” Jaemin reads out, squinting at the screen. “Hey, does that sound kind of familiar to you?”

“Maybe,” Jeno replies, sounding equally unsure. “Oh well. I’m glad you’ve found someone other than Michael Jackson to constantly listen to.”

“Yup,” Donghyuck says. “Hey, did anyone else get fed the dress code rules by Minhyung Lee today?”

 

It becomes a daily routine. Donghyuck gets home, flops onto his bed, and listens to Mark rapping for at least half an hour.

“Hey,” Jaehyun muses thoughtfully, over dinner one night. “I haven’t heard you play Michael Jackson in a while.”

“I’ve just been using earphones instead of playing it out loud,” Donghyuck explains. Jaehyun nods, and for some reason, Donghyuck’s brain also makes him say: “andI’vealsobeenlisteningtomusiconsoundcloud,” quickly.

“What?”

“I’ve also been listening to SoundCloud music,” Donghyuck mutters. Jaehyun’s face lights up, and he opens his mouth. “Yes, hyung, I know, I owe you, thank you for being such a great and smart brother, bla bla bla.”

“I was going to ask if you’d found any artists you really liked,” Jaehyun says. “But I’ll accept the compliment anyway.”

Donghyuck sticks out his tongue in retaliation. “I haven’t really found anyone I _love,_ per se,” he lies blatantly, because his gut instinct is telling him to keep Mark a secret from Jaehyun for now. “I’ve just been listening to different genres- pop, rock, hip-hop-”

“Oh, one of my college seniors is _obsessed_ with hip-hop and rap,” Jaehyun interjects. “He’s got an account too, you should check him out. His username is-”

Suddenly, his phone starts ringing, effectively cutting off whatever he was about to say. “Hold on, I’m going to take this call,” he says, before leaving Donghyuck alone at the dinner table. By the time he returns, the topic of SoundCloud music is forgotten.

 

“Hey,” it’s the same voice from the day before. Donghyuck turns around to meet Minhyung’s gaze. He really does have a nice facial structure, Donghyuck thinks. With his large round eyes, framed by equally round glasses, and jet black hair flopping across his forehead, he looks kind of- cute.

That is, until he begins speaking.

“Sorry, Donghyuck,” he gestures at Donghyuck’s uniform. “Your shirt is untucked again.”

“It’s fine, Mr. President,” Donghyuck says, with perhaps a little more snark than he intended to use. But really, it’s eight in the morning, and he’s tired and bored, so who can blame him? After tucking in his shirt, he heads to where he knows Jeno and Jaemin are seated.

“Guys, Minhyung Lee just told me off for having an untucked shirt for the second day in a row,” he whines as he takes his seat. “Doesn’t he have better things to do?”

“Well, it kind of is his job to tell people when they’re violating the dress code,” Jaemin says, in a matter-of-fact tone.

Donghyuck’s mouth drops open. “Whose side are you even on?” he says, affronted.

Jeno and Jaemin roll their eyes in almost scarily synchronised unison. “Have you considered, I don’t know,” Jeno says. “Tucking in your shirt when you come in?”

“I can’t believe I’m being oppressed by my own best friends,” Donghyuck says, choosing to ignore Jeno’s admittedly valid query. He’s going to show up tomorrow morning with an untucked shirt, and no one can stop him.

 

“Donghyuck.”

Donghyuck stops.

Minhyung is staring pointedly at his untucked shirt. “I’ve told you twice already that your shirt should be tucked in.”

“I know, Mr. President,” Donghyuck says. “But I believe that we live in a free country, and I am allowed to express myself the way that I want to.”

For a moment, Minhyung stares at him, utterly confused.

“This isn’t a free school,” he says, after a five-second long period of time that, in actuality, feels _much_ longer than five seconds. “The rules state that you need to tuck in your shirt, and it’s my job to ensure that these rules are upheld by the student community, and-”

“Okay, _okay,_ jeez,” Donghyuck scoffs, bunching up the ends of his shirt and stuffing them into his pants. “No need to get all preach-y with me. I bet you don’t do anything fun ever.”

“Well, actually,” Minhyung says. “I have plenty of fun, thank you very much.”

“Sure,” Donghyuck says, mock-patronisingly. “I’ll believe it when I see it. See you around, Mr. President.”

“Minhyung.”

“What?”

“Call me Minhyung,” Minhyung says, and for a moment, he looks bashful. It’s fucking adorable.

Donghyuck pauses for a moment. “Okay, Minhyung-hyung,” he says, and Minhyung’s resulting smile is quite possibly the cutest thing he’s ever seen. “I’ll see you.”

“Bye,” Minhyung answers, with a small wave.

“Oh, and I’ll be here tomorrow with an _untucked shirt!_ ”

“Wait, what?”

 

From then on, it’s easy to develop an acquaintance with Minhyung. The older boy isn’t as pretentious as Donghyuck had assumed he was- rather, he has an air of innocence and naivety that sort of makes Donghyuck want to protect him. Acquaintance leads to friendship quickly, and soon enough, Minhyung is joining them for lunches and hangout sessions, bringing along his own same-aged friend named Yukhei, and Yukhei’s tiny friend Renjun who hits it off with Jeno and Jaemin almost instantly. It’s nice.

This is also where things start to go awry.

Being friends with Minhyung means _seeing_ Minhyung outside of their daily ‘ _Donghyuck please tuck in your shirt_ ’ interaction. Which means Donghyuck gets to see Minhyung in all _states_.

“Donghyuck, stop fucking staring,” Jeno hisses one day. Jeno’s outburst hasn’t come from nowhere- Donghyuck has, in fact, been ogling Minhyung’s biceps since ten minutes ago, when the latter had shown up for lunch in a sleeveless, skintight black jersey. Who knew he’d been hiding _that_ kind of body under his frumpy uniform?

It’s only when Jeno sighs exaggeratedly that Donghyuck realises that- well, he’s still staring. But he’s only human, and human beings are subconsciously drawn to things that attract them, or whatever.

“Hyuck,” someone says, and Donghyuck looks up to meet Jaemin’s eyes. “Are you still listening to those SoundCloud songs?”

Oh, he sure is. Donghyuck thinks of telling Jaemin about the previous night, when he had laid on his bed listening to ‘ _CHERRY BOMB_ ’ on repeat for almost an hour straight. He realises that does make him sound completely pathetic, however, so he settles for a mere nod instead.

“Hey, you like SoundCloud?” Minhyung says. Donghyuck turns to him- and his stupid arms- again. “I have an account! It’s mostly just me messing around with my cousin, though.”

“Hyuck, you should totally post covers online,” Jeno interjects, before Donghyuck can ask Minhyung for his SoundCloud username. “The internet deserves to hear your voice.”

“ _Ooh,_ yes, share your golden vocals with the world!” Jaemin nods enthusiastically. This leads to a flurry of questions from Yukhei about Donghyuck’s singing abilities, which Donghyuck doesn’t think are actually all that great, but whatever. The lunch bell rings before the conversation ends, and Donghyuck forgets all about Minhyung’s SoundCloud account in favour of committing the sight of his biceps to his memory instead.

 

It’s a rare day where Jaehyun has agreed to pick Donghyuck up from school, which is why he’s ended up at the school foyer, scrolling through his Instagram feed on his own.

“Hey,” Donghyuck looks up- it’s Minhyung, thankfully out of his _distracting_ jersey and back in uniform.

“Hey, are you heading home now?” Donghyuck asks in answer.

“Yeah, I am,” Minhyung says. He seems to be a little nervous. “Um, can I ask you something?”

“...sure,” Donghyuck replies, mildly suspiciously.

“Will you do a song with me?”

Of all the questions Donghyuck thought Minhyung may have asked, this was certainly not on the list.

“A song?”

“Yeah, I’ve been wanting to cover a couple of songs lately but I needed a singer. The guys were talking earlier about how your voice is good, so I thought I’d ask you,” Minhyung explains.

“How do you know I’m not actually terrible, though?” Donghyuck shoots back. “You haven’t heard me sing.”

“I guess you’re right,” Minhyung says. “I have a feeling you’re just what I need, though.” The words send heat flooding to Donghyuck’s cheeks, and without thinking, he nods.

“You’ll do a song with me?” Minhyung visibly lights up. “That’s awesome! Let me just give you the link to my SoundCloud account-” As Minhyung is speaking, Donghyuck notices Jaehyun’s car pulling into the front gate.

“Hyung, I’m sorry, but my brother is here to pick me up- we’ll talk about this tomorrow?” Donghyuck says, already making his way to Jaehyun. Minhyung nods understandingly, turning away as Donghyuck enters the car.

“Hey, who was that?” Jaehyun asks.

“Oh, just this new friend I made in school,” Donghyuck says. “He wanted to make a song with me, or something like that.”

“Cool,” Jaehyun replies, as he begins driving. “I was just thinking, he kind of looks like someone I know.”

“You must be hallucinating,” Donghyuck replies, and the conversation ends there.

 

 _LEE_MARK posted a track - 20 minutes ago,_ Donghyuck’s laptop screen proclaims. Below that is a single track, entitled _‘WHIPLASH - JH, MK, TY’._

Donghyuck’s fucking _ready._ He grabs his earphones, plugs them in, hits play. And-

-the song is _hot._ The beat is slick and sexy, and the lyrics are, to put it bluntly, kinky as hell. By the time the song ends, Donghyuck’s sitting on his bed, eyes wide.

“Hyuck, dinner!” Jaehyun shouts from below. Donghyuck closes his laptop quickly, realising that the song’s infectious beat has somehow wormed its way into his head, before heading to the dinner table.

“How was your day?” Jaehyun asks, once Donghyuck is seated. He’s shoveling noodles into his mouth at an alarming rate as he speaks.

Donghyuck shrugs. “Nothing special. You?”

“Oh, I got to record a song for that one hip-hop loving college senior I told you about. The song was pretty wild, but when I asked, he told me it was about his _sister…_ ” Jaehyun continues rambling as Donghyuck begins consuming his own noodles, tuning his brother out in the process. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Nope,” Donghyuck replies promptly. He thinks about sending a text to Minhyung, maybe. Asking him about their song, or something like that.

He shoves the thought away, though. He doesn’t want to seem _too_ desperate. He tunes back into Jaehyun’s chattering as he continues to eat.

 

“Okay, how well can you speak in English?” Minhyung asks. They’re seated in one of the school’s soundproofed music rooms, so they can practice. Donghyuck’s still somewhat convinced that Minhyung’s going to kick him out once he actually hears his singing voice, though. But that’s a problem to worry about later.

“I can speak it passably, I guess,” Donghyuck shrugs in response. “Why? Are we covering an English song?”

“You got it,” Minhyung says. “Have you heard the song _Billionaire_?”

“The one with Bruno Mars- _sunbaenim_?”

Minhyung claps excitedly. “That’s the one! I think it would be awesome to cover.”

It’s nice to see Minhyung like this, Donghyuck thinks. Free of school-related responsibility, just him and his raw passion for music.

“I’ll have to look up the lyrics to learn them, though,” he says. “It might take a while.”

“Oh, yeah, I was expecting that, so I printed out the lyrics for you,” Minhyung replies, as he pulls out a sheet of paper from his backpack. “I was thinking you could hear how I altered the rap for now, so we would know if your vocals would match it or not?”

“You know, I don’t understand how you’ve got so much faith in my voice. For all you know, I could be _completely_ terrible.”

“You’re not. I’m sure. You wouldn’t have come here otherwise,” Minhyung replies, with utmost confidence. It warms Donghyuck’s heart, a little. “Anyway. Are you willing to listen to my rap? I’ll warn you, my lyrics are still kind of in the working.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes playfully. “Yeah, sure, rap god,” he says. “Show it to me, then.”

Minhyung beams and gets out his phone, opening up the music application and pressing on an unnamed track. Bruno Mars’ voice filters through the phone’s speakers, and Donghyuck finds himself nodding along to the song’s catchy beat.

And then, the vocals taper out, and Minhyung opens his mouth, and begins to rap.

“ _Yeah, I would have a show like Oprah…_ ” Minhyung delivers the words fiercely, with flawless, unaccented English. Donghyuck stares at him with wide eyes, mind racing. Minhyung’s voice is _good-_ and it’s also _extremely_ familiar.

 _Of course,_ his newfound crush would be fucking _LEE_MARK._

Donghyuck internally panics for long enough about this that Minhyung’s rap comes to an end.

“So, what did you think?” he asks, out of breath and flushed. He looks _so_ fucking good. It’s infinitely better than anything Donghyuck could have imagined his favourite SoundCloud rapper to be.

 _SHUT THE FUCK UP, BRAIN,_ Donghyuck yells to himself. Outwardly, however, he schools a hopefully realistic-looking smile onto his face.

“You’re really good, Ma-I mean, Minhyung-hyung,” he manages to squeak out. “Um, I just remembered that- my brother’s probably expecting me, it was really fun talking with you, let’s continue this later, bye!”

He gathers his things and sprints out of the door, leaving an undoubtedly bewildered Minhyung behind. There’s no way he can face the older again. It’s time for Donghyuck to move out of the country, change his name, and start life afresh. His SoundCloud-rapper-turned-crush will be a thing of the past.

As he starts leaving the school building, he realises that he’s still holding Minhyung’s lyric sheet in his hands.

 

Donghyuck doesn’t go to lunch the next day. Instead, he finds an unused classroom and nibbles on the apple he’d grabbed from the kitchen that morning, while staring at Minhyung’s lyric sheet intensely.

He’d gotten multiple texts from Minhyung the night before, asking if everything was alright and if he was okay. Donghyuck is yet to open any of them, feeling too ashamed to do so.

It was only later that he realised that one way he could apologise for his strange behaviour was to learn the lyrics to _Billionaire,_ and perform it for Minhyung as soon as possible. Which brings him to where he is now, snacking on an apple in a deserted classroom.

“Hyuck?” Donghyuck looks up. Renjun is standing in the doorway, a hesitant smile on his face.

“Hey, Injunnie,” Donghyuck says. “How’d you know I was here?”

“Uh, Jaemin might have told me,” Donghyuck rolls his eyes at the mention of his traitorous friend. “I just wanted to talk to you about Minhyung-hyung.”

“I know, I acted super strangely yesterday, but I’m working on something now, so-”

“Minhyung’s really insecure about his music now.”

“-what?” Donghyuck is dumbfounded- why would Minhyung be insecure about something as incredible as his music?

“I guess he rapped for you or something yesterday, and you didn’t like it? Now he’s doubting himself, and, Hyuck, it’s okay if you didn’t like it, but would you mind telling him something more constructive, because I don’t want to see him lose his passion for music-” Donghyuck listens with a growing sense of horror, because this is _not_ what he’d wanted to happen.

“Renjun, wait,” Renjun stops. “That’s _definitely_ not what happened. I think he’s incredible, and I just overreacted because of something else, that’s all. I’m going to find him once school ends to apologise.”

“You think he’s incredible, huh,” Renjun says, with a too-saccharine smile.

“ _That’s_ your only takeaway from this?”

“Well, I knew that you’re too smitten with Minhyungie to not like anything he does,” Donghyuck loathes to admit that he’s right. “And just a heads up, he did say he’ll be back in the music rooms after school to work on his rap skills.”

 _He’s perfect, he doesn’t need to work on anything_ , Donghyuck thinks. Or maybe he’d said it out loud, judging by the smug look on Renjun’s face. “Thanks, Renjun. Really.”

He turns back to his lyric sheet with a newfound determination.

 

Minhyung’s sitting on the floor of the practice room, back facing the door, when Donghyuck slips in. He’s raking his hands through his hair as he writes in a notebook furiously.

Donghyuck coughs, to signal his presence in the room. Minhyung startles, and whips around. Their eyes meet.

“Um, hi, hyung,” Donghyuck says, setting his things down and sitting cross-legged on the floor opposite Minhyung. “I wanted to say I’m sorry, but first…”

He clears his throat, and begins to sing.

His studying had paid off, because he manages to get through the entire verse without forgetting any of the words. His voice is clear and it doesn’t crack in any odd places, so he figures he’s done alright.

Minhyung’s face says otherwise. His eyes are _huge,_ and his mouth is hanging open by the time Donghyuck’s done.

“Holy shit, Hyuck,” he breathes. “Why have you been hiding a voice like _that?_ You’re amazing.”

Donghyuck feels the blood rushing to his cheeks, but he has an apology to get through first. “I wanted to say I’m sorry first, hyung,” he says. “I acted strangely yesterday, and you’re doubting your talent because of me.”

“But why?”

There it is. The million-dollar question.

“Uh...IknowyourSoundCloudaccount,” Donghyuck says, as quickly as he can.

“What?”

“I know your SoundCloud account, okay, I’ve been listening to your songs nonstop for _months_ ,” Donghyuck bursts out, exasperated. “Imagine my surprise when the cute guy in my school starts rapping and he turns out to be the guy with the hot voice I listen to on a daily basis.”

“Wait, you think I’m cute?” Minhyung asks. He pauses. “ _Wait_ , you think my voice is hot?”

“That’s not relevant now, okay,” Donghyuck says. There’s no way he isn’t as red as a tomato now. “I’m sure you can understand why I freaked out now, and I just wanted to say I’m sorry and I hope you know you’re insanely talented. Please don’t doubt your skills because of me.”

“I think you’re beautiful.”

“Okay, let’s get back to work- sorry, _what?_ ” Donghyuck looks up to see Minhyung staring at the ground bashfully. His heart starts racing. This is _not_ good.

“I think you’re adorable, funny, and you have a gorgeous voice,” Minhyung continues, eyes still locked on the floor. “I knew your voice would be amazing without having to hear it because there’s no way anything you do can be bad.”

“What the fuck, when did you get so smooth,” Donghyuck sputters, but he’s beaming. Minhyung’s smiling too, he can tell. “Well, how about we record this song now and if it doesn't turn out badly…”

“...I get to take you on a date?” Minhyung asks.

Boldly, Donghyuck leans forward and presses a chaste kiss onto Minhyung’s cheek. It’s worth it to see how adorably flustered he gets.

“It’s a deal.”

 

_LEE_MARK posted a track - 5 minutes ago._

_‘BILLIONAIRE (COVER) - MK & DH’ _

_thanks to my boyfriend @leedonghyuck for recording with me! go support his new account :) - mark_

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a boyfriend?” Jaehyun says conversationally over dinner that night. Donghyuck promptly chokes on his rice.

“How did you _know?”_ There’s no way Jaehyun could have known- Donghyuck and Mark had labelled themselves as ‘boyfriends’ all of five hours ago, they hadn’t told anyone yet.

“Firstly, I didn’t even _know_ you knew Mark, and now you go and date him?” Jaehyun questions. “Don’t try and deny it, he posted your cover on SoundCloud, proudly mentioning his _boyfriend_ in the comments.”

_SoundCloud...Mark...Jaehyun...JH._

“Wait, _you’re_ the ‘JH’ in _Mad City_? And _Whiplash_?” Jaehyun nods solemnly, seemingly oblivious to Donghyuck’s shock. “Your college senior wrote _Whiplash_ about his _sister?_ ”

Jaehyun grimaces at that, at the very least. “I told him that was a shady explanation, but even Mark agreed with it. I was outnumbered, Hyuck. Outnumbered by the cousins.”

“Cousins,” Donghyuck repeats dumbly. “ _TY_TRACK_ is Minhyung’s cousin.”

“Well, yeah,” Jaehyun shrugs. “I don’t know why you didn’t know, honestly. It’s not like I was trying to hide it or anything.”

Donghyuck turns back to his rice, bemused. It’s a weirdly small world, the one that he lives in.

 

“Donghyuck.”

Donghyuck looks up, already beginning to smile. Minhyung stands in front of him, staring disapprovingly at his untucked shirt.

“Hey, Mr. President,” he says cheekily. “Anything I can do for you today?”

“You can tuck in your shirt, for starters,” Minhyung says dryly. “Really, I’m looking forward to the day where I won’t have to tell you off for this.”

“Why would I tuck in my shirt if it meant that I wouldn’t get to talk to you in the mornings?” Donghyuck shoots back. Minhyung’s cheeks turn pink. “Anyway, I’ll see you at lunch?”

Minhyung doesn’t say anything back, but he does reach out and slide his palm across Donghyuck’s arm gently. Satisfied, Donghyuck walks into school.

He’s kind of glad that he’d gotten bored of Michael Jackson for once, after all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> iconic songs mentioned in this fic: [yestoday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUWDiXBNohY) | [mad city](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9r6uL9hAcM) | [cherry bomb](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkuHLzMMTZM) | [whiplash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bbYj7tWafk) | [billionaire (mark and donghyuck cover version!!)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwLuKcuknH0)
> 
> hmu on [tumblr](http://seoculturetechs.tumblr.com) for more nct goodness! also, please let me know if the plot flowed well, because i'm not sure if i should try writing more about this universe :D
> 
> thank you for reading! comments & kudos are LOVE! hope you enjoyed <3


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